


Talon and Quinn watch Katarina and Garen go on a date

by The_Untitled_King



Category: League of Legends
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humour, The Edge - Freeform, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:20:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24132733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Untitled_King/pseuds/The_Untitled_King
Summary: Talon watches over one of Katarina's dates with Garen, and is joined by an unlikely companion.
Relationships: Katarina Du Couteau/Garen Crownguard, Talon Du Couteau/Quinn
Comments: 5
Kudos: 91





	Talon and Quinn watch Katarina and Garen go on a date

Even at the edges of its border, Talon couldn’t deny the inherent beauty of Demacia. From the architecture to the lands that the kingdom was nestled into, to even the way the people carried themselves. Through the light-casting of the setting sun bathing the buildings and streets in a warm orange, the blade from Noxus watched the people go by at the days’ end, waiting for his quarry to pass.

He had taken up a position along the wall of a small town, South of Uwendale and just along one of the rivers flowing through Demacia. To any eyes he’d look like a commoner, with his simple garb and worn clothes. The disguising elements – chiefly the blue scarf that helped him fit in with the overwhelming patron colour of the nation – were aged and had suffered the wear of time, but they would do. In particular, he was opposite from a small, darling little restaurant with a quiet humility just on the river bank. There were only a few tables inside and some on the open-air deck hanging over the river, and Talon could only see filled seats on the inside.

By now, he’d been here for hours, but he knew they would come. He resisted the urge to play with the several knives hidden beneath his clothes. The last time he had come to Demacia he had learned that, in fact, peasants do not often spin blades on the fingertips when bored.

Then something caught his eye.

_That’s her._

Standing outside the restaurant was a new woman, having broken from the steady stream of people walking to stop there. She wore a simple green tunic and a tightly wrapped shawl around her head, hiding all but her eyes from sight. The way she was standing was meant to evoke the image of someone plain, from the countryside, but Talon knew his sister too well for such a half-hearted attempt to fool him. She couldn’t resist, even when standing idly, to cock her hips at just enough of an angle to allure, causing passing men to slow down in sight of her legs, and in turn for their partners to berate and slap them.

Katarina loved to show off after all, entirely too much.

She wasn’t alone for too long, being joined by a broad-shouldered mountain of a man astride an equally impressive horse, sending her into titters. Talon rolled his eyes, even Katarina’s lazy disguise was half-convincing to someone not watching properly, but her beau seemed to have not even bothered. Aside from the lack of his famous armour and sword, Garen Crownguard appeared as he always did, dismounting his steed with a heavy thud and sweeping Katarina into his arms.

_As strong-jawed as he is dim-witted._ Talon thought. _He could at least put as much effort into hiding this as Kat does._

Words began to pass between them, shared between broad smiles ignoring the stares of people passing. She tugged the shawl off and let her crimson hair spill out, and Talon had to resist from slapping his forehead so hard that they would hear him.

_Fools._ He calmed down, thinking of The Edge and how he was its emissary, a perfect agent of stealth and shadow. As he continued to watch he became mildly frustrated that he couldn’t make out what they were saying, neither through sound nor reading their lips, but from their demeanour he could at least make out that the interaction was positive, and that Katarina wasn’t in any danger.

  
At least not for the moment.

What he could hear however, were the flapping wings of something far above, and someone climbing atop the wall from behind him. He didn’t need to turn to tell who it was, that cadence of fingers and feet scrambling against stone was both known to him and too unique to be mistaken for another. The person reached Talon’s level and began to approach him, familiar footsteps joined by the wings from above, and sat down next to him.

“Miss me?” Quinn asked.

“No.” He lied, giving a quick nod to Valor and the bird nodding back in turn.

“Mmhm. So, you here to watch out for Garen?”

“I’m here to make sure nothing bad happens to Miss Du Couteau, that’s it.”

“Oh, so formal.” She chuckled. “Well either way, that makes two of us. The prince doesn’t particularly trust your sister, even if Garen seems to, so he’s asked me to keep an eye on her. If anything happens…” She patted her crossbow and ruffled Valor’s  
feathers in turn.

“You wouldn’t be able to take her down.”

Quinn chuckled. “You’d stop me?”

“Even if I didn’t, Kat is too skilled for you. You might get some good scars in though, if you’re lucky.”

“Don’t need luck, I have Val.” The bird gave a deeply prideful look, shifting slightly on her shoulder.

As they spoke, Garen and Katarina entered the restaurant, doing their best to remain subtle and unnoticed. It was perhaps the worst job Talon had ever seen of people trying to hide themselves in the open, enough to make him sneer. Their shadows passed by the windows until they were led out to the back deck, left alone under the stars to gaze longingly into each other’s eyes.

“So, what do you think she sees in him?” Quinn asked.

Talon let out a small grunt as he tried to come up with an answer. “Maybe it’s the forbidden part, lovers and enemies and all that.”

“Come on, it can’t be that boring, otherwise she might as well be sneaking out to see Fiora.” The thought conjured an image that raised Quinn’s eyebrows as she said it, and she couldn’t help but smirk. “Now that…”

“Enough. Kat isn’t so shallow. Garen is…” Talon struggled to find the words to complement the Demacian. “There’s something admirable about his dedication, I can see that being worth attraction.”

“Never expected a cutthroat to say something like that.”

“Assassin.” He corrected her. “I was a cutthroat before being lifted into the family, I-”

“Yes, yes, you owe everything to the General. You have a sense of honour, you’ve got some strange code that you swear by called The Blade.”

“The Edge.” He corrected her with a stern look.

She stifled a laugh, even Valor was holding back a humoured squawk. “Ah, my apologies, sir Edge. Perhaps you could teach me the ways of your Edge, so that I may one day stand beside your sharp bladeliness.

He grunted again and returned to focusing on the spin-pair at the riverside restaurant. A single candle stood between them, casting flickering light over their faces and dancing in their eyes. Neither of them was looking anywhere but at the other, gazing  
lovingly at their war-crossed lover, hands clasped over the table. Talon supposed he was lucky that their hands were only holding, and not doing anything more illicit.

Though truly, was there anything worse than hand holding?

“Been keeping track of how many times they kissed so far?” Quinn asked, leaning forward slightly.

“I haven’t, but I could tell you. It’s three so far.” As he spoke the number went up one. “Four.”

“You missed two, once when she let her hair out and once as they sat down.”

He supposed Valor must be acting as a second set of eyes for her. “Do kisses on the cheek count?”

“They most certainly do!”

“I wouldn’t know. The Edge strictly states-”

She made a face and aggressively shooed whatever he was going to say away, silencing him. Even Valor flapped a wing in tandem with his partner. The Noxian made a derisive noise and fell quiet, slouching and pulling his hood up. It made him feel more  
comfortable.

They sat in silence for a while, the setting sun fully giving way to night and Quinn drawing out a small lantern on her person, just enough to illuminate the two of them without giving away their position to the lovers they were watching. Valor chirped every so often and Quinn let him fly off to hunt, his wings the only things that disturbed their quiet. It was nice, Quinn had to admit, even if she was sitting only a few feet away from a Noxian who had probably stabbed more people than she had met.

Well, perhaps not that many, but she knew Talon was very good at stabbing.

It was he rather than her that broke the silence however, and in a very quiet, very serious tone he asked. “Demacian, can Garen read?”

Quinn stared at him flatly with wide eyes, mouth slightly ajar.

“I’ve heard he can’t read, that’s why he’s so good with a sword, he never had to spend time reading.”

“Of course Captain Crownguard can read!” She said just loud enough for Talon to shush her with a gesture. “He’s amongst the highest nobility in the kingdom, he’s the leader of the Dauntless Vanguard, he’s educated!”

“He’s a yeti with a sword.”

“He’s-” Quinn stopped and shook her head, massaging her temples. “Enough, hush.”

“Have you ever seen him reading?”

The scout opened her mouth to speak, only to realize that as she scoured her memory she had never once seen the man reading. Not a book, not a letter, not even a debriefing document, nothing. She sighed and looked at Talon with an exasperated  
expression.

“He can read.” She said with a tone that indicated she was done with the conversation.

Talon shrugged. “If you say so.”

“Look, if he can’t read, then that means miss knife-nut is in love with an illiterate man. Are you ok with that?”

He shrugged again. “She’s dated worse.”

Quinn was about to question it, then her idea of a typical Noxian man made itself known to her and she went quiet with a giggle. “I can believe that.” This earned an eye-roll from Talon before he returned his gaze to the pair.

More time passed in silence, Quinn drumming her fingers against the parapets as Garen and Katarina shared a fish dish. Once again Talon was the one to break it, but she was surprised by what he said.

“Demacia is a truly beautiful country.”

She blinked a few times as she processed exactly what he had said, leaning forward and turning more towards him. “Sorry, did I just hear you correctly?”

“You did, I hope. Demacia is beautiful. Every time I come here I take some time to myself just to enjoy the natural beauty of the land, and the structures your people have built.”

“Is that before or after you’ve stabbed someone?”

He ignored her. “You’re fortunate to have been born here, and for being born with the right name. Names don’t mean as much in Noxus, despite what the Grand General’s detractors might say. He earned his power, I was lifted into mine, but the empire we  
were born into is harsh and cruel.”

“Do you ever wish you were born here instead then?”

He gave her a brief glance, his gaze pensive, then returned to watching the lovers’. “No, not for a second. In Noxus I was born in the gutter and given a chance to rise. Murdering my way to a place where someone saw my potential and allowed me to fulfil it, I am grateful for that. If I were born in Demacia, I would have stayed in the gutter.”

She wanted to reply, but she knew he was right. His criticism was valid, even if she had a trailing list of criticisms towards Noxus herself.

“That’s not to say Noxus is perfect, or that it’s even good. It has problems, General Du Couteau might have been the man to remedy them, but…” He went quiet. “People like me are part of the problem, I accept that. I cut and killed my way up, and the blood flows back down onto the streets I was born in.”

His words prompted thought in her mind, there was a similar dissonance in Demacia, but instead of free-flowing blood it was heavy weight and the chains of the system against the aberrant, even if they weren’t any threat. There was a deep divide in society, an ingrained oppression. Demacia’s inflexible rule meant that it was strong, but also that it was brittle, like the petricite foundations it rested upon.

It wouldn’t react well to something radical happening, and with all the people being forced down, that might be an inevitability rather than a possibility.

It would take more than a conversation between two opposing agents to figure out what it would take to solve these issues. Quinn knew it, but that didn’t help the sombre tone that had fallen over her. In a way she admired Talon’s ability to look inward and see his own problems, but it didn't make up for what they made of him.

“They’re on the move.” Talon suddenly said with a self-serious tone, getting up and dusting himself off. Quinn quickly rose to her feet and stowed her lantern, waving skywards to get Valor’s attention and inform him what was going on. Her partner quickly adjusted his course and flew above the nimble duo, following them as they darted across the wall and down into cover, stalking Garen and Katarina through bushes and between buildings. Quinn couldn’t help but chuckle at the sheer amount of unnecessary flips Talon made as they followed the other twosome, all the way to a small inn at the corner of the town. Listening after the lovers’ footsteps, they tracked them to a room on the second floor and climbed a tree to get a better vantage point, hiding amidst the foliage.

Though it wasn’t long before Talon changed his mind about keeping an eye on them.  
Garen and Katarina were deeply embraced, gradually stripping off layers of clothing as they moaned into one another. The Noxian man made a noise as he began to descend from the tree, and when he noticed that Quinn wasn’t doing the same – but rather, staring intently – he tugged on her ankle and frowned at her.

“What? I want to watch.”

“No! They’re…” He made a lewd gesture with his free hand. “Come down, now!”

“But what if she stabs him?” She replied half-heartedly.

“I’m fairly confident that she isn’t the one who is going to be doing the stabbing tonight. Now get down!” He tugged harder on her ankle.  
With an annoyed sigh, Quinn relented and began to slip down the tree to the ground, though not without stealing one last glance at the window. As the pair walked away from the inn and out into the street, Valor descended and landed on Quinn’s shoulder once again.

“Are you done here then, Talon?”

He felt a twinge as she used his name so casually. “I’m only here to keep an eye on Miss Du Couteau, I’ll be off back to Noxus in the morning after her.”

“Good. Good.” Quinn folded her arms, then unfolded them. “You aren’t going to kill anyone, are you?”

He frowned.

“Hey, better to be safe than sorry. I’m here to protect Demacia from threats after all. Now…”

“Don’t go back and watch them, Demacian.” He said, beginning to turn away.

“I wasn’t going to!” She insisted, and Valor looked away sheepishly. “Good night, Talon.”

Talon curtly waved goodbye and chuckled, walking away into the comfort of the shadows. He knew that Quinn still had her sharp eyes on him until he turned the corner away, and suspected that Valor might be watching him even as he walked into an empty barn and found a bale of hay to sleep on. Something primal told him to jump into it, particularly from somewhere high, but he was too tired to entertain such a notion and instead simply dropped down and closed his eyes. His last thoughts were spared somewhere in the direction of flashing gold, and flashier feathers.

Talon awoke to something bumping into his side. Figuring it was just a curious animal, he grunted and ignored it, until it collided with him again, harder.

“Ow!” He opened his eyes and sat upright, discovering the red-headed, green-eyed owner of the boot up against his side. She looked down at him, he looked up at her, and she kicked him again.

“Get up, Talon. We have a long road back home ahead of us.”

He snorted and picked himself up, dusting loose hay off his clothing. “How did you know I was here?”

She didn’t reply, simply walking out of the barn with an expectation for him to follow. He did, of course, but only because The Edge dictated that he do so.

“Oh and next time, you two can join us instead of watching from the shadows.” She turned to face him, a wide grin over her face. “It’ll be cute, like a double date.”


End file.
